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Systems Thinking

Business Change is Leader Centric!

When business change is going well it can be the catalyst for future success, positive growth and long periods of stability. It can lead to higher staff moral and retention, improved customer satisfaction, less waste and greater profits.

Unfortunately the majority of change programmes fail to deliver as they are not always run well and end up costing the organisation dearly. Indeed, in our experience it takes a special individual with very specific skills and the support of the senior management team in any organisation to succeed. Business change is leader centric, it requires a positive catalyst, a word we take from chemistry and use as a metaphor to describe the attributes a change leader must have.

Catalysts that speed a reaction to change in chemistry are called positive catalysts. Catalysts that slow the reaction down are called negative catalysts, or inhibitors. Substances that increase the activity of catalysts are called promoters, and substances that deactivate catalysts are called catalytic poisons. Unlike other agents that participate in the change reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. In business terms this metaphor helps with understanding the team dynamics that take place when a change is initiated. Those familiar with implementing any change initiative will recognise these characteristics in the people aspects and the ‘games people play’.

Systems Thinking in Business and Our business change model

Ascot Barclay's ACTIVE BUSINESS CHANGE™ Framework is our ‘systems thinking’ methodology which embraces the leader as a positive change catalyst and focuses on ‘Benefits’ realisation and performance improvement. We consider the blending of strategy, processes, technology, people & leadership as an end-to-end capability, working with the organisation as a whole to deliver constructive outcomes.

The 7 signs that scream HELP!

Over and above having the right change leader at the helm, here are our thoughts on just seven signs that signal to us there is a high likely hood that your organisation needs some help in delivering transformational change. These are in no particular order and we often find that there are a combination of factors such as these causing major concerns and issues:

1. Spending lots of time trying to motivate and train staff in an attempt to improve performance and morale
   Often we see organisations running regular pep talks, launch programmes, motivational seminars for staff and managers. In addition, misguided skills development and team building programmes all cause more harm than good.
2. Rapid turnover of Chief Executives or Organisational Heads
   In organisations where change is not going well, attracting and retaining the right people at the top of the organisation is often a struggle. Regular replacement of the Chief Executive or other organisational heads with new external hires in the hope that the next to arrive will bring the magic formula or big personality required to ensure future success. This is a sure fire sign that change is not going well.
3. Attempting to break into ‘new’ highly competitive markets
   Industry is littered with stories of organisations straying from their ‘knitting’ and getting burned badly. Change going badly, organisations clutching at straws attempt to break into markets where they have no history or experience in the belief that they can dislodge and take market share from already well established competitors.
4. Switching between one strategy and the next
   Change challenged companies often find themselves switching and changing strategies in the hope that they stumble upon a golden bullet answer or single stroke solution to solve all their issues – when in reality there is no such solution.
5. Engaging the services of a large and expensive team of ‘Corporate Consultants’
   Companies locked in a change going badly cycle find themselves swamped and even overwhelmed by teams of external ‘change agents’ from the large consulting firms. Their approach is often to impose a new culture and way of working by simply overpowering the organisations own management and staff. In our experience this approach builds even deeper resistance to change, resentment of staff and is probably the single most telling sign of trouble.
6. Making failing acquisitions that are a poor match to corporate strategy
   Industry is littered with the remnants of bad acquisitions that were initiated to drive growth at all cost, substituting short term positive fluctuations in share price for long term stability and sustainable strategic growth.
7. Have lost their way and are in need of re-orientation back to the path that brought them success
   Organisations that are change challenged have typically failed to identify their economic drivers, their core business advantage and true passion; the organisation has gone stale, is either in a long slow painful decline or is an economic crash just waiting to happen. When these warning signs are present in combination, their effect is multiplied. The solution is to face up to these issues. Realistically assess your organisation’s ability to implement change. Engage carefully-chosen help. Should you feel your organisation would benefit from expert help, Ascot Barclay Group can guide you through the gateway to successful business change, and the rewards that brings.

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